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The foot of the White Mountains was like any other mountain. It was toward the top that that changed—swirling masses of snow encircled the top making it look as though the summit reached into the heavens. Past the area of what a normal hiker could endure, the face of the mountain was steep, treacherous, and covered in meters of deep snow.

Unforgiving wind bit at Torbjørn’s exposed skin. Its bitterness seemingly froze superficial capillaries causing them to produce a crackling sensation. Years of living in Norway gave Tor the opportunity to become a proficient mountaineer, but even this was a challenge for him. Between the howling wind and snow from the depths of Niflheim, navigating his way to the summit was disorienting and punishing. His lips were raw and chapped beneath a balaclava, his hands and feet felt like burning bricks, and his muscles were growing painfully weak and aching.

All the while Baldr offered no hints, encouragement, or even the slightest inkling of his existence within Torbjørn’s mind. The trek to the summit was Tor’s mission and his alone apparently.

[i]Clack.[/i] A sturdy ice axe stabbed into the mountain’s icy rock. The hood of a fur-lined parka rose over the edge of a cliff, then a heavily gloved hand. With reflective snow sport goggles donned, Tor peaked over the top of the cliff and grasped for a handling to hoist himself onto level ground. He threw himself into the snow after his feet found solid ground. His breaths were labored and the warm yet unwelcomed moisture of sweat beaded on parts of his body unexposed to the otherworldly cold.

[color=2D5CAE]Why the hell did I come here?[/color] he asked himself. [color=2D5CAE]Gotta find a place to rest.[/color] Finding a resting place was vital. If he pushed himself too hard, he would begin to really sweat and create the perfect condition for hypothermia.

With a moan, Tor looked up from a prone position. The piercing wind whipped snow and ice incessantly. There was no break from the torture—save for a few less powerful gusts. It was in one of those moments that he was able to make out the entrance to a small cave. Not having many other choices, making a temporary shelter there was the best next course of action. Slowly he placed a foot beneath him and kneeled with the other leg. He picked up the ice axe he had carelessly casted next to him after falling into the snow.

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As soon as he entered the mouth of the cave he let out a sigh of relief. The cover of the cave provided shelter from the wind and that alone was enough to make anyone cry tears of joy. Drained, Tor sat down to enjoy a short-lived period of respite. He removed his hood, lowered his balaclava, then took his goggles off and placed it into a compartment of the backpack. The crystals of ice that formed in the fur glistened as they fell off. Red impressions were left around his brow, cheeks, and the bridge of his nose from the goggles.

It was when Tor wiped sweat from his brow that he heard an echo from within the cave that sounded something like, [i]yeah[/i]. Some other echoes followed, but that was the only sound that struck him as a word.

Something told him to investigate, and it wasn’t Baldr. If he was crazy enough to scale a mountain at the request of a voice in his head, could someone else be doing the same thing? All of it was strange. He rationalized that he was already this far, so might as well delve deeper into the rabbit hole. It was like a scene out of a horrible horror movie where a character goes against any sane person’s instincts. Part of him wanted to scream, “Stop, you idiot!” Nevertheless, deeper into the rabbit hole he went.

Out from a side pocket of his mountaineering backpack was a right angle flashlight that he clipped onto the strap. The Norwegian turned it on. Its bright white light illuminated every nook and cranny between it and a large distance. Scuttling of insects and other cave inhabitants reverberated off the innumerous stalagmites and stalactites within the void of the mountain.

[color=2D5CAE]Certainly not alone in here.[/color]

Without any sense of danger and unknowing of how much danger was actually ahead, he continued further into the cavern.